There are various methods for modifying the surface state of a substrate through a treatment using an appropriate agent to specifically improve certain surface properties. For example, in the field of mechanics, and in particular in the field of horology, but also in the field of jewellery, a surface of a piece or an element is often epilamized with an epilamization agent to control and reduce the surface energy of said surface during use. More specifically, the purpose of an epilamization agent is to prevent the spreading of oils or lubricants on the elements of a timepiece or piece of jewellery by forming a hydrophobic and lipophobic surface allowing the lubricant to remain in a predetermined place on the treated surface.
However, the substances currently used for epilamization have various drawbacks. More specifically, known epilamization agents, such as Moebius® Fixodrop® FK/BS or the 3M™ Fluorad™ range, have poor resistance to watchmakers' cleaning operations. US Patent Application No 2012/0088099 partially solves this problem by proposing to use an epilamization agent having a catechol chain-end function, this catechol function being capable of secure attachment to the surface of substrates. However, the resistance of these epilamization agents to watchmakers' cleaning operations has not improved on all substrates, particularly gold and steel, which are very common substrates in the fields of horology and jewellery. Thus, the use of known epilamization agents is generally limited to certain materials, which requires the user to have various types of epilamization agents available depending on the nature of the surfaces to be treated. One solution for overcoming this problem is disclosed, for example, in WO Patent Application 2012/085130. This solution consists in using for the epilamization composition a mixture of different types of compounds (thiol and biphosphonic) whose synergistic effect enhances the adhesion of the epilame to the substrate. However, the synthesis of each of these compounds requires at least four steps, so that the method of synthesising the entire epilamization composition is long and complex.